Walt Disney World has changed the design of their resort drink mugs for 2014. They will be at all the Walt Disney World resorts as soon as their current stock runs out. Just a reminder that these Rapid Fill drink mugs have an RFID chip(radio frequency identification) in them and the mug must be activated before you can use it at the Rapid Refill drink stations. If you aren’t familiar with how to use these mugs, Shaun Thompson has written a FAQ blog about them.

I saw these Rapid Fill drink mugs at Port Orleans Riverside. They come in 4 colors at this time. They are purple, red, yellow, blue. There was a display in the food court area. When you select your mug you will need to take it to the cashier for them to activate it before you can use it.

The drink mugs are included in the Disney World dining plans. If you don’t have a Disney dining plan you will need to decide how many days you would like to activate your drink mug for. The time starts at midnight on the day you purchase them. So if you are checking into your resort at 9:00pm, I would wait to activate the mug until the next morning to make better use of your 24 hours activation time.

If you have an old Rapid Fill mug you can bring it back and activate it for your resort stay, but you won’t receive any discount for reusing an old mug. Personally, I recommend keeping the old mugs at home or donating them to a charity so someone else can use them.

Kathy Werling discovered Walt Disney World later than most people but has made up for it. Living close to the theme parks hasn't gotten old yet for her. Kathy is an accomplished photographer and is always out finding new and different things to photograph in the Orlando theme parks. Kathy is also part of the Orlando DIS Unplugged Podcast team.

They look to be the same size as the mugs before. (look to be the same cup with a different design printed on it.) I am using mine from 2012 right now – my morning cup of coffee that I drink during the drive from home to work – and it says 16 oz on the bottom. fits in a standard car cup-holder.

BOMAN

SC – 16 which is 16 0z.

yankeesusa

Looks great. But for a company that supposedly cares about animals and the environment this seems like a waste. At the least they should allow passholders to reuse their mug for a discount. As a repeat Disney visitor and ap holder I have several mugs that could be reused. It’s sad really that a multi million dollar company can’t come up with a better solution. Hopefully people are recycling them and not just throwing them away.

Kathy Werling

The decision not to discount when reusing the mug finally made me decide to just buy soda and keep it in the room.

Paul Saint

I still wish the mugs were resort-sensitive. I remember getting my first mug when I stayed at Wilderness Lodge for its first Christmas. That was such a great deal, back in 1994. I would definitely get a mug for the length of stay the next time I stay on property, which I hope is soon.

kel

totally agree…we have had so many of those generic mugs over the last few years because of the DDP – what a waste! But if they were holiday or resort specific, we would really enjoy the memory back at home.

r5moores

Would make sense, since they have the capability of reactiving the RFID chip, to offer discounts to do just that. But Disney won’t do that, because lets face it and call it like it really is, Disney is all about the $$$. I’ve been going now for 20 years and the writing is on the wall. The Disney today is so far removed from Disney a decade ago. Today its cutting corners and making money. Don’t get me wrong, I KNOW they are a business and they are out to make money, they are just more blatant about it and in your face about it now. Take for instance the “Magic Bands” even in the early testing phase when only a few resorts 1 or 2 were testing it, they had to quick make sure they had accessories to sell to add to the magic bands when hardly anyone was even testing them yet. Again $$$$. And adding a DVC onto every deluxe they could to get every $$ they could. To me it’s just greed now, coming out in spades. every time you turn around the park tickets are going up and then they wipe out the lower rate charge for a Childs Annual pass. Don’t get me wrong, I love Disney World, my kids grew up there and we now have two grandchildren we’ve taken twice, I’m just becoming disillusioned with the whole Disney cares and is all for the environment blah blah blah like a poster stated below.

Mrs. E.

If you get your mugs free with your dining plan, do you still have to pay for the drink? Just wondering if the mug AND the drinks are both still free like before?

r5moores

The drinks at the filling station are free.

Sally Webb Decker

Does the iced tea and coffee dispensers have the chip reader in them as well?

mamarainey

I was at Pop Century a month ago, and they did not have chip readers in the iced tea, coffee or hot chocolate dispensers. I would imagine that might eventually change though.

Stefanie Bartolomeo

That was my question. I don’t drink soft drinks generally but would use it for coffee, iced tea or hot chocolate if the weather was cool.

Mamarainey

Currently staying at Pop again and there are still no readers on the coffee, iced tea and hot chocolate.

Lynn Swinburnson

What the heck, so you can’t use the mug right away when you purchase them because the time doesn’t start until midnight? I’m confused.

Kathy Werling

Lynn, you can use them right away after you activate it. Ifyou are paying for it by the day your day starts at midnight. That is why I recommended if you buy it at 9 PM to wait until the next day to activate it otherwise you would pay for a days worth of use but you would really only have 3 hours to use it for that day.

Lynn Swinburnson

Oh gotcha! Thanks! We will be there for two weeks so we will just do the length of stay so I guess for that it really wouldn’t matter.

BOMAN

I have 2 questions.
1. We are traveling by auto and it is about 11 hour drive and will not arrive at All – Star Sports till about 4:00 PM. Probably get length of stay mugs. Should we buy our mugs then or wait till the next day ?
2. Where can these mugs be used ?

Sue Ziolkowski

I personally would not purchase the mug until the next day unless the prices that they are offering were a better deal and also depending on your length of stay. The mugs can be refilled at your resort.

IMHO

If you are doing length of stay, it won’t matter which day you got them, so I would get them the day you arrived.

disneydork

I hate that everyone gets them. It creates chaos at the soda fountain….people everywhere!! And, it would be great if they were spill proof at least so you can take them with you to the park! One positive — at least there are 4 color choices now!

deedee1662

For $18.00 I can buy 3 cases of drinks, have them in my room, fill my 2 son’s, my husband’s and my 2013 cup up as many times as I like, save $54.00, and NOT have to go to the food court every time I want a drink! $72.00 for 4 plastic cups that we may fill 2 times each for every day we are there is a bit crazy.

Billy Lagstrom

We have used the mugs for coffee,tea and soda for years.The prices do shock you at first but if you think of it as you buy say 3 drinks a day over a 5 day stay then it’s actually a bargain.My only problem is it’s not available at all times like when coming back from a late night at the park.They should have a soft drink station available 24 hrs a day at every resort.

Leannan

Is there no refillable mug program for the parks themselves? Why would this be considered a good deal for people who are spending almost the entire day at the parks and pretty much no time in the hotels? You’re going to be thirstiest while walking around in the hot sun at the park, not while sitting in the hotel getting ready to go to bed. I just don’t see how anyone would be happy with this program or waste money on it.

moishe pippick

Not everyone spends the whole time either in the parks or getting ready to go to bed. Gotta go to the pool, Ft Wilderness, other resorts. And at the end of the day a couple of those endless refills of coke are especially welcome when combined with the surprisingly reasonably priced whisky on sale in the gift shop.

Denny

I wish I could tell Disney that I NO LONGER buy the mugs because they are no longer styled after the resort i am staying at and just generic. I know this is a cost saving measure, but “really” how much? I loved the old mugs because when i drank out of the port orleans mug it was like i was back there. Now there is no warm fuzzies with the generic mugs.

may3

I find Disney has gone too far. They are putting in a chip in every mug? Even every paper cup? There’s no way they can be missing that much soda to justify this action. This is rather absurd. Besides, it doesn’t actually prevent pop stealing. A person can still get a mug and pour it into other containers for the whole family to enjoy. Just go in there repeated times; 2 minutes between refill is nothing except an annoyance to legitimate guests. Besides, all the “pop stealers” are resort guests. So what if they drink more? That just means they aren’t doing something else, such as using the park pass. I would think that this should be considered a benefit.

You can get free refills anywhere in McDonalds or many other fast food places. Do they also have a problem with pop stealing? I don’t see them preventing guests from getting too much soda? And they charge so much less than Disney! Surely Disney is making enough to cover the extra pop that some people might drink? And why would anybody bother stealing pop? For a $1 you can buy a huge jug of that stuff and drink to your heart’s content. If you can afford Disney, why would you be bothering with stealing pop?

When I was at Pop Century, I have seen a few people get the soda without the Disney cups, but only rarely. Some are also using old mugs, but it is also rare. I mean, the mugs should be forever to encourage the guests to come back! It’s just pop, but it’s a nice gesture. A little nice thing like this can often tip the scale of deciding whether to stay on site or not. A computer controlled cup will cause nothing but irritation especially when it quits working for no reason.

Heck, when don’t they have a security guy at the drinks to watch out for pop stealers? Even that would be cheaper than putting a chip in every mug and every disposable paper cup, wouldn’t it?

I get dining plans every time I go, so I get the mugs for free and I rarely use them because the dining plans already include drinks. But I find it nice that once in a while, if I want, I can get a free drink and without having to wait in line to pay for it. But if somebody else enjoys just guzzling that stuff, I see nothing wrong with that either; it’s just pop, get over it. It’s nothing compared to the thousands I’m paying for the trip. If you have an “all you can eat buffet,” some big bellied guy might eat a lot, but most people don’t and you come out okay. You don’t call it all you can eat and then put a limit on it.

This is definitely adding inconvenience. Granted, I don’t use the mug often, but I don’t want to walk all the way to the food court just to find out that somehow the computer has a bug and won’t recongize my mug or my kid’s mug. And I have to go complain or whatever.

And I don’t get why they won’t let you have a discounted price to reuse a mug. It won’t cost them anything to do that. Just discount the cost of the mug.

Our Disney trips are getting undermined by the fastpass+ magic band and now the computer chip mug. My husband calls it “the mark of the beast.” Heck, whoever imagined that the mark of the beast will start with Disney? But I am a true Disney lover and I am going to overcome these obstacles by getting up earlier to beat the rush and bringing two mugs to get drinks each time. That way if one mug doesn’t work I can use the backup.

In my upcoming trip, I will pay attention to see if there are fewer people at the pop dispensers to see how many pop thieves they are eliminating by the fancy new method. Although I will admit that having a computer verify my id before dispensing my drinks is somewhat cool.

Another thing is, I think if they have to eliminate pop thieves, they should only do so at the value resorts. The moderate and deluxe resort guests surely don’t need this computer guard. And it would be doubly irritating for them.

MD

I may be missing the answer to this but is there an additional cost for the mug itself and THEN a fee/day?

Kem

I need help. I am visiting Disney with my family for a short three day trip at the end of the year. We will then visit again next year for a seven day trip. Both trips, we are staying on Disney property. If we buy the mugs and activate them for the short trip, will we be able to activate the same mugs again next year, or will we be forced to purchase another set of mugs next year???

Kate

We are staying at 2 different resorts for 10 days. Can the length of stay mug be used at both resorts for entire stay or do I have to purchase 2?